The website Car4play.com is optimised for Internet Explorer (v. 4 and above) and Opera (v. 5). To contribute to the forum, registered users should set their browser to enable JavaScript and to accept cookies. If you have difficulty applying these settings, email webmaster@car4play.com, giving details of your computer, its operating system (e.g. Windows/Macintosh/Unix), and the browser version in use (e.g. MIE 6.0).
It is not necessary to be a registered user in order to read the correspondence in Car4play. Those who wish to contribute, however, must first register.
Registration is a one-time only procedure. Click on the "New account" button to the right of the screen. This will bring up an entry form in which you are asked to provide a unique email address, a password and a unique user name. You will also be asked to agree to a policy code.
Submitting the form starts an automatic verification process. A message will be sent to the email address you have given, detailing your user name and password. Keep this message safely for future reference. The message will also contain a coded link, which will confirm your registration and take you to the forum. At this point you may start to contribute.
Subsequent visits
On subsequent visits to the forum you will need to click the "Log in" button on the right of the screen. Enter your registered email address and password. If you check the "Remember me" box on the entry form these details will be automatically entered for you.
To enter or change your preferences, click the "My profile" button on the right of the screen. You can choose the way you view the forum (number of threads displayed: Threaded View or Flat view); tell the forum to show or hide your email address; set a signature to appear automatically at the foot of your contributions; or provide details about yourself you may wish other contributors to know (these details are not obligatory - you can leave them empty if you prefer). You can also change your registered email address or password.
There are several forums.
Discussion is where you can exchange opinions with other contributors on any topic which is more or less loosely based on the theme of motoring, and is not technical in nature.
Technical Matters is a forum for discussion of technical problems and solutions, and where you can seek advice about a specific aspect to do with motoring. Contributions to this forum are retained and will form an ongoing resource to help and advise motorists.
The Moderators have discretion to remove or close a thread which they consider to have run its course, and also to transfer an item which they consider to be more suited to another forum.
Choose the forum which interests you from the top level of the forum.
Within each forum, the topics are displayed so that those most recently active are at the top of the list.
Within each thread, however, message titles are displayed in a hierarchy which appends the most recent contribution at the bottom of the list.
Items which have been contributed since your last visit carry a "new" flag.
To go to a different forum, choose from the pop-up menu at the top of the forum window. To return to the top level, choose "--Car4play Forum--" from the menu.
To start a thread, click the "New topic" button, enter the title of the topic, and then make your contribution. Once you have completed your message, click "Preview" to see how it displays and to check that you've made no typing errors. Once you are satisfied, or if you see you need to make changes, close the preview window and either edit your post or click "Post". Once posted, users will not be able to make any amendment to their contributions.
To add to a thread, click on "Reply to this message" in the message window. If necessary, change the title in the entry window. Where possible, to help other users read your message in context, click the "Quote" button to enter the text of the previous message in the entry window (you can then delete irrelevant text to keep your message concise). Then follow the Preview/Post routine described in the previous paragraph.